<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Consequences by Orajje</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408592">Consequences</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orajje/pseuds/Orajje'>Orajje</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Badass Dorkiness, Blood, Evil Moemura, F/F, Homura Akemi is a mess, Organized Crime, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Trust Issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:02:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408592</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orajje/pseuds/Orajje</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In one universe, a cat named Amy gets hit by a car in front of a girl named Madoka, causing a reality altering chain of events, however, what would have happened if it had died a little sooner, in front of someone else.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akemi Homura/Kaname Madoka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>93</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Probably a Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In one reality, a chain of events transpired of massive proportions. One that involved two girls, their friends, and vast amounts of suffering, pain, and power. One that is currently still in the middle of a new crisis. However, this entire butterfly effect of chained events started with a girl, who witnessed a cat getting hit by a car. The proceeding act of kindness, her wish for it, made her into a magical girl, and saved the cat from its fate. However, what if, in a universe down and slightly to the left of that one, the cat died in front of someone else. This someone couldn’t make a wish, but one of their resulting decision’s caused things to go very differently, and not necessarily in a way anyone could have expected.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>    Saotome was having a good day, her boyfriend and her were reaching their 3 month anniversary, and things were going well in her love life for once. However she needed to get some extra eggs for the next few days, and so she decided to walk the rest of the way to school today. She then saw the little black cat on the sidewalk, which proceeded to give her a pleading look and meow. Unable to resist she walked over and began to pet it. “Aw what's a little guy like you doing out here in the city?” The cat didn’t respond past purring at the attention they were receiving and pushing its head against her hand. “I bet you aren’t the type to abandon a lady for a stupid reason are you. You are just incredibly sweet and you wouldn’t hurt a woman's heart even if she couldn’t do something small and meaningless would you!” Then she went to scratch behind its ear and it bolted <em> right into the </em> <b> <em>street-</em> </b></p><p> </p><p>    “No! Wait!” but it was too late, the cat had gotten hit by a car in those brief few seconds, and was now lying in the street. After checking to make sure there were no more cars coming she ran over, grabbed it, and bolted back to the sidewalk. She looked at it to try to take note of it’s condition, and immediately felt nauseous as she looked at its injuries. “Oh god what should I do, what should I do!” she yelled while panicking. Oh god what could she even do in this situati- “OH!” she immediately took out her phone, searched for the nearest vet,and proceeded to look back at the wounded animal while running as soon as she had the location. “It's ok, it's going to be fine okay! I’ll take you to a place with some nice people and they will make you all better okay!” she’s not sure whether she’s trying to comfort the cat or herself, and she has a feeling thinking about that will only make her panic further. To make things worse the cat's condition seems to be steadily worsening as she runs to hopefully help it, slowly stifling her hope that they will be able to help it.<br/><br/>    “There it is!” She said as she ran into the vet as fast as she could and yelled “Help me! This cat got hit by a car!” one of the veterinarians came over and took it with her to one of the rooms, while Saotome wanted to follow she had a feeling she wouldn’t be able handle watching it slowly die if they weren’t able to save it. So she waited, sending a message to her boyfriend to inform him of what was going on. After messaging with him a bit to try and keep her mind off the cat, the veterinarian came over and said. “I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do besides easing its departure.” “I… it's okay you did what you could…” after filling out some paperwork about the visit she left, and went to her office to do the work she had been planning to do before… No, don't think about it.<br/><br/>    As Saotome did her best to fill out her form’s and check over homework she slowly became more and more drained. That cat’s death <em>hurt</em>, to the point that she couldn’t imagine doing anything other than sleeping it off for the next few days, but she probably wouldn’t be able to find a substitute in time so she would still have to teach her class, next monday. She sighed hoping that it would at the very least be an easy week, even if she would have to teach. Then she saw the form for a transfer student, a girl called Homura Akemi, who had been at the hospital because of heart issues for several months straight at this point. She knew that this girl would likely require extra help and work, and it wouldn’t be fair to the poor girl if her teacher was busy being miserable for her first days at school. So she sent some messages so that the girl would end up in someone else’s class, someone who would be able to actually teach during her first day of school.</p><p> </p><p>She had no idea just what the consequences of her decision would be. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I realized this wasn't going to be a oneshot when i got through the first page in google docs without mentioning Homura. so strap in because i don't know when this will update or how long it will be.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Perfectly Normal Day (where nothing is enough)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Homura's first day at school.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Beta'd by rec and NonBenevolentPotato</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Homura blearily woke up, the light coming through the window and into her eyes blinding her for a second, causing her to fumble in her attempts to put on her glasses. “Wha… what day is it again..?” She looked at the calendar, panicking when she realized it was her first day at school today and she needed to get ready if she was going to make a good impression. <br/><br/>    As she went around her apartment, putting on her school's outfit and getting ready for the day, she remembered when she got the message that she was going to be in a different class due to some circumstances with the teacher. She wasn’t entirely sure what happened but it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference… hopefully… She was honestly pretty nervous about all of this. In the last school she was in before she had to go to the hospital she had been bullied due to her abysmal stamina, and other students pulling her braids had been a common occurrence. But she couldn’t think about that, she had just gotten out of the hospital, and things would be different this time… right? <br/><br/>    Once she was finished, she took the bus to Mitakihara Middle School. The amount of students there was <em> overwhelming </em> after being stuck in the hospital for months. So she stayed away from the crowds when she could, and after checking the info she was given, made her way to her classroom. While waiting for the teacher to call her in she tried her best to prepare herself for the introduction she would have to give, however with each second that passes by she could feel herself losing what little composure she had managed to gather. </p><p><br/>    She wasn’t entirely sure how long it had been when the teacher had called her in, but it probably wasn’t anywhere near as long as it had felt. As she stood in front of the whiteboard she felt nervous with all of the other students' eyes on her and started fidgeting with her bag's handle. “Alright why don't you introduce yourself to the class.” The teacher asked. </p><p> </p><p>    This was easier said than done, but she slowly got out the words, “U-um my name is, H-Homura Akemi, and uh i-uh, it's really nice, I mean, I’m pleased to meet you” she bowed her head at those last words.</p><p> </p><p>    After the teacher wrote her name down they said, “Ok everyone, Miss Akemi has been in a hospital for a rather long time due to her heart condition, so if possible could you all help her, as she will likely need a while to readjust?”</p><p> </p><p>    After class ended she was bombarded with questions, and while she tried her best to answer them she was so nervous she couldn’t even get a word out, until eventually she managed to get out. " I, I-I'm sorry, b-but could one of y-you um point m-me to the um nurses office..?"</p><p> </p><p>     "Oh I'm sorry! Our nurses aid can take you, ok?" The closest student said</p><p> </p><p>    "A-alright." While it had taken a lot out of her to shut the conversation down, she actually did need to go to the nurse’s office and if she had been bombarded with any more questions she wouldn't have been able to handle it very well. </p><p> </p><p>    The Nurse’s aid was another girl who didn’t really seem to be much for conversation, so the trip was mostly silent besides the other students in the halls. After taking her medicine and thanking the nurse’s aid for her help she went to her next class, things were alright until she was called up and she had no idea how to do the problem. While the teachers were nice enough about it, that single hiccup seemed to set the tone for the rest of the day. Homura was completely lost in every subject, teachers speaking words and phrases that meant nothing, fellow classmates continuously bombarding her with questions so fast she couldn't keep up enough to properly answer and she didn't even want to think about the disaster that was PE.</p><p> </p><p>    By the time school was out all she wanted to do was go home and sleep it off. So naturally that is when her day went from bad to worse. She was almost to the exit when she spotted a group of students right in front of her, who when she tried to go around them, spread out to corner her against the wall. “Well look who it is! The weak transfer student who can’t even go through warmups without needing a break!” what seemed to be the leader of the group said.</p><p> </p><p><em>     Oh please no, </em>she thought, desperately looking through the barrier of bodies for escape routes regardless of knowing she wouldn't be able to use them even if she found any, so she asked. “I-I’m sorry, um d-do you think I c-could just go home?” </p><p> </p><p>    She didn’t hold out much hope for this working, which was quickly proven when the leader said. “Oh come on~, you should stay and chat with us for a bit~. It's not like you have anything better to do, you obviously don’t study if you can’t do any of the work the teacher assigns.” </p><p> </p><p>    “I-It’s not li-” she attempted to get out but before she could the leader said.</p><p> </p><p>    “Aw~, how <em> adorable! </em>She's trying to make excuses for how bad she is at everything now!” as the group laughed at her that comment, she tried to think of a way out of this situation, unfortunately it seemed that nobody else was in the hallway at the time so she wouldn’t be able to get any hel- “Hey what do you think you’re doing!” The leader yelled at her. Startled, she swung her head back to the leader. “You should look at someone when they are talking to you, it’s very rude not to, and rude people need to be punished.” She said with a dark look in her eyes and with a smile plastered on her face.</p><p> </p><p>    “I-I’m sorry it won’t happen um, again!” Homura squeaked out as fast as she could. </p><p> </p><p>    While she kept her eyes on the leader of the group, she failed to notice another one of the students reaching towards her hair until they grabbed it, and <em> pulled, </em> causing her head to jerk back with an exclamation of pain. “I think that's enough punishment this time.” the leader said in a cheery tone, when the other student let go of her hair she looked at the leader while trying to fight back tears. The leader said. “Well I think that's enough chatting for now, don’t you all agree?” After the rest of the group had nodded, she said. “Well then we’ll see you tomorrow, Akemi-san.” After they left she hurried back to her empty apartment as fast she dared without putting too much strain on herself. <br/><br/>    She had only recently moved in, so there was nothing to distract her from walking straight into her bedroom and onto her bed. As she cried about how everything had gone she wished someone would come into her room and comfort her, but no one else was here, or would be here besides herself. Her churning thoughts and the day's experiences were her only company, replaying in an endless loop until she finally drifted off from the exhaustion of it all into a restless sleep. <br/><br/>    Her last thoughts before consciousness slipped away from her were. <em> “Things aren’t going to be any different this time.” </em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Wish (the end of the beginning)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The changes snowball.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Beta'd by rec and Sa'Kage</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The rest of the week was more of the same. Even though she got some notes from a nicer student, every effort to catch up to the rest of the class had little effect on her results, there just wasn’t enough time to catch up between classes and her time spent at home. While the group of bullies hadn’t waylaid her every day, it seemed she had become their new favorite target as they had done it at least every other day so far. She had occasionally heard her name spoken by others in whispered tones, but had always moved on quickly. She had absolutely no desire to know what her reputation was like in the rumor mill. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>    However she had done something today, something she was pretty sure she would regret later. She had seen the group before they saw her, and power walked as fast as she could into a hallway nearby that had quite a few students and followed the crowd to an exit, however when she was almost out of sight of the group she had looked behind her and she saw that the leader had noticed her retreat. It had taken all of her willpower to not panic right there and continue walking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>    Then she realized that at some point she had zoned out, and she had walked near her old hospital on some form of instinct. Her apartment thankfully wasn't too far away so she began walking again, in the vain hope that she could improve her stamina from doing this so it could stop being as completely abysmal as it currently was. That is until she noticed </span>
  <em>
    <span>it.</span>
  </em>
  
  <em>
    <span>It</span>
  </em>
  <span> being a weird silver needle-like object stuck into a nearby wall, pulsing with light from its center. She didn’t know what it was but even just looking at it felt… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Unpleasant. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She was starting to walk again to get away from it, when it suddenly glowed brighter, to the point where she had to close her eyes from the sudden flash.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <span>When she opened them again, she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. The whole place looked so surreal that she couldn’t tell whether she was still conscious, or if she had pushed herself too hard in PE and was currently in the middle of some sort of exhaustion induced fever dream. Sweets and needles littered the place, in such quantities as to where she wasn’t entirely sure why her mind had conjured such a place, </span>
  <span>well she could understand the why for the needles at least.</span>
  <span> Then she </span>
  <em>
    <span>saw something move,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she couldn’t even quite comprehend what it looked like at first, and when she focused on it to get a better look it was somehow more confusing. It looked like some sort of surreal polka-dotted rat with a target for a face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>    It hadn’t noticed her yet so she started backing away, until she looked around and realized there were no visible exits, just paths she couldn’t see all the way down. She proceeded to pinch herself to hopefully snap out of this strange dream but it didn’t have any effect. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This isn’t a dream.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She thought and immediately began panicking, because if this wasn’t a dream </span>
  <em>
    <span>then where was she?! </span>
  </em>
  <span>She immediately went down the closest pathway, trying to make sure she didn’t startle any of the weird rat things as she proceeded, after a while she was beginning to realise there didn’t seem to be a way out, or at least not one she could find. Which meant she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>trapped</span>
  </em>
  <span> in this place. She’d barely been holding on before but this snapped what little willpower she had. She dropped to her knees as tears fell down her cheeks, this was all just </span>
  <em>
    <span>too much. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She stayed there for a minute crying and desperately hoping it was just some sort of exceedingly realistic nightmare.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Hello, Homura Akemi.”</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span><br/>
</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span><br/>
</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>A voice startled her out of her panic, it had been so strange, it hadn’t felt like she heard it yet it had been so clear. She looked up and saw a weird white creature sitting there. While it was strange, looking like some sort of cross between a cat and a bunny, it didn’t give off the same… Strangeness that the other creatures did. Wait did that mean it was the one who called to her? “U-um, hello?” she asked quietly.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Ah I should introduce myself, I am Kyubey, and I have a proposal for you.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>    She was confused but at least Kyubey didn’t seem hostile, although his voice didn’t seem to come from him the way it should? “ I-I’m sorry but um w-where are we? H-how are you talking to me? What is, um h-happening..?” she asked him.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“We are in a labyrinth, a place created by a witch and I am talking to you through my telepathy. Now what I want you to do, is make a contract with me, and become a magical girl!” </span>
  </em>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <span>Now that she thought about it Kyubey did look like one of those mascots in a magical girl anime, but. “A m-magical girl? But um, I'm so weak, I d-don’t have any special skills and I c-can’t do anything right…” She stuttered out.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Don’t worry about that, all you need to become a magical girl is the potential and a wish, and you definitely have the first one”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A w-wish?” she asked.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Yes, any wish you can think of. Although you may want to hurry.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>    Any wish she could think of. She could become the smartest girl in the school, or the most athletic, she could be popular for once in her life. Wait. “W-what do you um, mean I should h-hurry?” she asked.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“The witch at the center of this labyrinth hasn’t woken up yet, but once it does the familiars throughout this place will probably start attacking.” </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span><br/>
</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span><br/>
</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>“Wait w-what? H-how long do I have?!” She yelled.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Quiet, you don’t want to startle them early. But I suspect you don’t have long so you should really make a wish so you can fight them yourself.”</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span><br/>
</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span><br/>
</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>She started panicking, she didn’t know what exactly she should wish for. If she were to wish for one of knowledge, athletic skill, or popularity, that would still leave her with the other two as problems. She also didn’t have time to think of a wish that might be able to do all of them as that would require some complicated wording, if it worked at all. If only she could get herself more tim- that's it! “Kyubey, I wish to go back and give myself time to undo my previous mistakes!” She yelled with as much force as she could. Then Kyubey reached out with his floppy ear things, and suddenly her chest </span>
  <b>hurt,</b>
  <span> like something was being forcefully pulled out of it. A light came out of her chest, one that turned into a purple egg shaped crystal as it landed in her hands.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <em>
    <span>“Homura Akemi, your wish has surpassed entropy, now go!”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p><br/>
<span>    She instinctively activated her powers, causing her outfit to appear, a black tuxedo with coattails, and a waistcoat underneath it. The gem that had appeared from her chest, became a pin on the left side of the tux. A strange looking pistol at her right hip.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  
  <span>At that moment the labyrinth felt more active then it did before and she noticed the creatures from before, familiars, started turning towards her. She knew right then the witch must have awakened, and she would have to fight through. She reached for her gun on some instinct that must have come with her powers and started raising it higher and higher until it was aimed at the familiars, then she started to raise it higher, </span>
  <em>
    <span>wait what,</span>
  </em>
  <span> and higher, </span>
  <em>
    <span>why am I...? </span>
  </em>
  <span>and then she noticed her arm was moving it towards </span>
  <em>
    <span>her head, </span>
  </em>
  <span>before she could even think about resisting the instinct that had taken over her arm it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>already at her head, no why would I do this sto-</span>
  </em>
  <em></em>
    <span></span><br/>

  
  <em></em>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>She pulled the trigger.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A Perfectly Normal Week (where everything is the same)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter beta'd by Sa'Kage and NonBenevolentPotato</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Homura jolted awake, the light blinding her for a moment causing her to make fumbling attempts for her glasses as she tried to remember what just happened.<br/><br/>    After managing to grab them and put them on she looked around. It was her room in the hospital, with the calendar showing that today was the day she would be let out. “W-wait, was it all… just a nightmare..?” She still couldn’t bring herself to think about what happened in it, first the bullying, then the labyrinth(?) and the monsters inside it, and finally the… cat? Bunny? Thing? Named Kyubey that granted her magical powers. Then <em> she shot herse- </em> it didn't matter, it was just a dream. Just a terrible nightmare that she woke up from.<br/><br/>    Then she noticed she was gripping something tightly in her right hand. Curiously she opened her hand, happy for a distraction from her thoughts.<br/><br/></p><p><em>    Wait </em> no, no it <em> couldn’t </em> be!? It was the gem. The gem that Kyubey pulled from her chest. The <em> glowing gem created right before she- </em> wait, does that mean..?<br/><br/></p><p>    I-it all happened? She was bullied again? She wasn’t able to keep up in school? <em>She shot herself with a gun?</em><br/><br/>    No sh-she <em>wouldn’t. </em><em><br/></em><em><br/></em>Would she..?<br/><br/>    Why would she do that..?<br/><br/>    She hadn’t even really noticed until it was already…</p><p> </p><p><em>    Was it the magic that made her do that? </em> <em><br/></em> <em><br/></em>  That was the only thing she could think of. The only reason that made sense. The <em> magic she had been granted had done so. </em>But why would they manifest like that..? Could… could Kyubey have had a hand in it..? She didn't know, she barely had time to make her wish before the witch woke up, and Kyubey didn’t explain much to her.</p><p> </p><p>    But why would he do that..? Why would he grant you powers that made <em> her s- </em> don’t think about it. Although, if he did do so, does that mean he isn’t trustworthy? What kind of deal had she made? She also wasn’t sure what being a magical girl meant. How was she supposed to hunt those… witch’s? That sounds right. She didn’t even know where to begin with that. She needed answers. But the only person that might have them is Kyubey, and she had no idea how to find him, <em> or if she even wanted to. </em> Then she heard footsteps and realized a nurse was coming. Likely the nurse who would be discharging her. Which meant she had to get ready to go.</p><p> </p><p>    The nurses kind words and attempts to make sure she got everything helped to distract her from the turmoil within her mind. At least until she was finally out, and she realized that the black thing she had seen could be to her right. She breathed in, and out. and looked at the black thi- it wasn’t there. It just... wasn't. <em> Why wasn’t it here? It was here in the futur- </em>oh, it… hadn’t been there the first time she was released from the hospital had it. So it would make sense if it just… wasn’t there yet. She decided to go home before she worked herself into more of a panic than she was already with every revelation.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>    When she finally got home she sat down on the couch for a minute to give herself some time to calm down and focus. She looked around, at the apartment that was back to being mostly bare besides the furniture which had been unpacked before she got there. There was also the gem from earlier, when she had been distracted by the situation it had seemingly become a ring on her left hand. She didn’t know whether that was good or bad, but at least nobody had mentioned it. “Ok, time to figure out what happened and what to do.” She said to herself, wishing she felt as confident as that statement made her sound.<br/><br/>    “Firstly w-what do I know about being a magical girl… I-I guess i’m supposed to hunt that witch… or evil creatures in general?” Kyubey… hadn’t actually told her what she was supposed to do when she became a magical girl. Were witches common? Rare? How dangerous were they? She had so many questions about them, but she didn’t know anything about them. Nothing more than that they created labyrinths and had familiars. Kyubey would probably know. But at the same time, could she trust him? The first thing she had done with her powers was shoot herself, and she had had no input on that. Which meant it was probably the powers themselves… or Kyubey? Could Kyubey have done it himself? He had telepathy… could he also have other powers? Like mind control or telekinesis? If so then… he had purposefully made her shoot herself. What could she even do if he had? He was the only person she knew of that had any info on what being a magical girl meant.</p><p> </p><p>    The only other option she could think of was looking for a different magical girl and hoping they actually existed. Which she couldn’t be sure of as Kyubey hadn’t mentioned anything about other or previous magical girls. Even if she went to look for either of them… how would she find them? While a white cat thing would be pretty obvious if she saw it, she doubted it was a normal occurrence for people to see a weird white cat thing wandering around, so Kyubey probably hides somehow, or somewhere. Since she didn’t know anything about its methods, or even where it commonly wandered, she couldn’t even begin to look for it, Mitakihara was a large city in the first place. Magical girls would be in even bigger challenge, even if she assumed they had the same magic gem ring thing, she had no idea how many there were, or if there even were any others in Mitakihara.<br/><br/>    She could… use her powers… but she didn’t even know how they worked, or if trying to use them would force her to shoot herself again. So she would keep that as a last resort. Although because she didn’t know how to do any of that, or hunt witches, that meant she was rather lacking in options when it came to figuring out how magical girls work… unless she went to the hospital in two weeks to meet Kyubey there? He was there last time so he should be there again, then hopefully she would get some info on what was going on and what her powers were supposed to do. Hopefully he wasn’t the cause of her actions then, she didn’t think she could handle it happening a second time.</p><p> </p><p>    Ok she now had a plan for finding out what she was supposed to be doing as a magical girl. Now what? That left her with a little more than two weeks before she would get some answers. Last time she had difficulties because she didn’t understand the coursework, but with a week and some knowledge of what was going to be taught she could hopefully do better this time. Maybe if she wasn’t as bad she wouldn’t be targeted by those bullies? She really, <em> really </em> hoped that was true. She still had to unpack her few possessions first though.<br/><br/>    Course of action decided she set to work, <em> allowing herself further distraction from the memories of the cold barrel pressed against her temple. </em></p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>    A week later she finally went back to school, and while she had tried her best, there were simply too many topics she needed to have already learned to know what she needed to get through her classes. <em> Although studying, even if it didn’t end up feeling productive, was still better than remembering what happened. </em> So when the teacher called her in and asked her “Alright why don't you introduce yourself to the class.” for the second time she was already rather panicky. After the introduction things went mostly the same, the same girls asked her questions, she still needed to go to the nurses office, and she still had to do the same classes. </p><p> </p><p>    She… didn’t do much better in most of her classes. She just didn’t understand enough to figure out what she was supposed to be doing. The biggest difference was P.E strangely enough as she was actually able to do most of the exercises without getting too exhausted. Was this because of her becoming a magical girl? Either way that was nice at least. She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t even notice when she ran into someone while she was leaving. She immediately stuttered out “I-I’m so sorry i didn’t mean to-”<br/><br/>    “Well look who it is here. The fuck up who failed at basically everything” her blood ran cold as she looked into the leader of the bullies from last timeline. “Can’t even get anymore words out? How about we punish you instead?<br/><br/>    She couldn’t handle it anymore, the terrible day and questionable week. She couldn’t handle this, not again.<br/><br/>    So she ran.<br/><br/></p><p> </p><p>    Homura didn’t even know where she was going at this point, she had seen a bus and taken it, not that she really cared where she was going. As long as it was <em> away </em> from where she was before. So when she heard the announcement that the bus had stopped in Kazamino she just got off, it wasn’t Mitakihara, and that was all that mattered. She couldn't bear being anywhere near those places anymore. The school, the magic that she gained which she knows next to nothing about, and the other students’ <em> stares </em>whenever she did something wrong, it was just… too much.</p><p><br/>    So she wandered the city for a while, not really paying much attention to her surroundings and allowing herself to just, not think about what had happened. After a while she noticed it was starting to get dark, and there weren't many people around in the area she was in. so she looked up the nearest bus stop and started heading to it, when she saw the park she headed through it as the bus stop was on the exact other side. Then her ring started to glow. She wasn’t really sure why it was doing that, or how to make it stop, so she just covered it up with her other hand and kept walking.<br/><br/>    At least she did until a girl wearing a weird red outfit jumped in front of her pointing a spear at her throat and said. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing in my territory.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Fuck She’s Adorable</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kyoko wasn't sure what she was expecting when she saw the glow coming from the other magical girls ring. She hadn’t even really gotten a good look at her before she ran up and threatened her. But it wasn’t a panicky, glasses wearing girl with braids who hadn’t even transformed when she put her spear to her neck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m s-sorry…? I didn’t mean to tr-trespass… I-I um, won’t do it again?” Braids stuttered out like a particularly fearful rabbit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Braids must be a rookie then, any experienced magical girls would either be here to challenge her or just be passing through, but Braids didn’t even seem to know what Kyoko was talking about. So she lowered her spear and asked “Oh ya? What are you some kinda rookie? You should know Kazimino is my territory and I don't share.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Braids looked even more confused “W-why would K-Kazimino be y-your territory…?” … This girl couldn't be serious, how little did she know to not even know about magical girl territories?!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok wait a minute Braids, how much do you know about being a magical girl?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“U-um I, I think we are supposed to fight witches? Maybe??? I-I’m not entirely sure. I a-also know magical girls get a wish w-when they contract.” Braids replied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… Kyoko wasn’t even sure what to say to that, did Kyubey tell this girl the bare essentials and leave? Did she sleep through the explanation?? Seriously, what the hell??? And now the girl was giving her a slightly concerned look of all things, probably because she’s been staring too long. Fuck. ok, Braids needed to talk to someone and get some explanations. So Kyoko decided to ask “What the hell Braids, how did you manage to have the most pitiful explanation about what magical girls do that i’ve ever heard?!” Braids squeaked at that. It reminded her of- nope that thought gets to be thrown into an incinerator fueled by her sheer fucking spite.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I um, there were some special circumstances… I was in a witch's labyrinth, and I don’t t-think the witch had hatched yet? Then Kyubey came a-and told me I c-could become a magical girl, s-so I, uh, made a wish. Then I… then I transformed and then, I-I s-shot myself, and suddenly I was in a d-different place… and I haven't seen him since, and I'm not sure I w-want to because I didn’t even m-mean to shoot myself! It just happened before I c-could do anything!” Braids ranted at her. Kyoko would at least give the girl a little bit of respect as she seemed to actually get out the words faster once she had some footing. She wasn’t even going to judge the tears that had started trailing down her cheeks, if Braids’s contract had been even half as much of a trainwreck as she made it sound like then she certainly earned the right to be pretty fucking scared and confused about her situation. Fuck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sighed dramatically and said “Alright after a story like that you certainly deserve an explanation. Since you evidently aren’t the biggest fan of Kyubey I could direct you to Mami so she can give you an explanation, she lives in Mitikih-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!” Braids interrupted. When Kyoko gave her a look she quailed and said “I-I don’t want to be in Mitakihara right now…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What the hell, not like Kyoko could really judge, but that meant… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She sighed again, this was going to be a long night wasn’t it. “Alright I guess I’ll give you an explanation since you seem to hate every other choice I brought up.” she wilted further at that. “But if we are going to be doing this I hope you have money.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Braids timidly asked “U-Um I do, but why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyoko smirked and said “Well obviously since you are bothering me I’m going to want some dinner for my trouble, worst comes to worst if you are trying to trick me I’ll get food out of it, and if you aren’t i get paid for my time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Braids seemed a little offended by that “I-I’m not tricking you! But I guess that's fair… by the way, what's your name?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Huh, guess introductions were left by the wayside between the trainwreck of information and the thought of food. “I’m Kyoko Sakura, what's your name?” Kyoko said, as she held out her hand and released her transformation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Braids slowly reached out and shook it while saying “I-I’m Homura Akemi…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyoko took her hand back and started walking to a nearby restaurant. “Well come on then Homura, we have shit to talk about.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>After getting situated and making their orders, the two girls just sat silently for a minute, Homura looking anywhere but Kyoko, while Kyoko wondered how this was her life. The silence was destroyed when Kyoko said “Alright, I'll tell you all the stuff you need to know about being a magical girl. But I’m not exactly going to be patient with you so you better pay attention because I’m not really in the mood to repeat myself Braids.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W-What if I h-have a question?” Homura asked</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then it better be a good one that I didn’t already explain Braids.” She replied. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>After she finished catching Homura up to speed about how the magical girl system worked, the food arrived. While eating, she watched the other girl. Homura was a rookie. One who had only transformed </span>
  <em>
    <span>once.</span>
  </em>
  <span> That was almost an accomplishment in and of itself. If not one to be particularly proud of.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyoko… didn’t really know what to do about her. The girl obviously needed a bit of help. A veteran to teach her how things worked. Although if she was refusing to go to Mitakihara right now… Kyoko hadn’t exactly made friends with other magical girls… which would only leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What was she talking about she’d gotten by just fine. This girl probably would too. Everything would be fine, and she’d get this girl out of her territory.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But… even at her weakest… she’d possessed some form of drive. Even early in her career she had had one. This girl didn’t seem to know what to do with herself. Even if Homura was trustworthy, </span>
  <strike>
    <span>Kyoko was leaning towards that being true, she didn’t seem to know how to trick others,</span>
  </strike>
  <span> she would probably be a hindrance in a fight. Not worth the grief seed used on her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Goddammit, why was she even still thinking about thi-... </span>
  <b>
    <em>Oh…</em>
  </b>
  <span> Homura reminded her of Momo. Just a little. Which didn’t even make sense. Goddammit, goddammit, GODDAMMIT! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Fine. Since her own fucking thoughts wouldn’t leave her the fuck alone, she would teach Homura. Get it done quickly, then never think about her again. </span>
  <em>
    <span><strike>Why did that thought hurt, just a little?</strike> </span>
  </em>
  <span>“So Braids, I’m feeling benevolent today. Which means that I’m bored enough to teach you how to fight. But then you are on your own alright!” She stated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura seemed a little shocked. then she started to tear up, just as tears started running down her face, she used her sleeve to clean them off. “U-Um, Thank You! Thank you so much Sakura!” She replied, with a determined look on her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeez, just what has she gotten herself into.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Night of Training (knowledge is power)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Homura followed Sakura to an empty area, where nobody would interrupt them. She flinched a bit as Sakura’s red eyes turned to her. Then she transformed into her magical girl outfit. “Your turn rookie! Let's not waste time!” Sakura snapped at her. It wasn’t very angry, but it was blunt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tried to use her powers, and suddenly found herself back in her own magical girl outfit. The sight of the strange black tux sending needles of fear and panic through her. She started breathing faster. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t do this </span>
  <em>
    <span>she couldn’t do it she couldn’t do it </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>she cOULDN’T-</em>
  </b>
  <span> The hands suddenly on her shoulders jolted her out of those thoughts. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked at Sakura, who was rubbing her right shoulder and staring right at her. Calming her down. When she began to feel better, and could calmly breathe again, Homura could feel herself begin shying away from Sakura’s intense gaze as the terror receded. “... look, you just went through some shit. I’ll admit, you probably have some issues now.” she shrunk in on herself at that. “But that's not your fault, sometimes shitty stuff happens, and it's hard to get over it alright. Some things will probably suck ass. Even if you feel they shouldn’t bother you. So you will have to deal with it alright?” Homura stared at Sakura. The girl who was helping her, who had just tried to comfort her when she almost broke down just from transforming.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded, and braced herself as Sakura took her hands off her shoulders. She let herself focus on breathing. She was able to keep the panic that threatened to come up away. Her hand wasn't reaching for her weapon. She was fine. She w-wasn’t going to shoot herself again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she was calm, Sakura asked her to pull out her weapon. That almost tipped her right back over the brink. But… after a minute or two of letting driving away the panic, she managed to summon it. An odd futuristic pistol with a couple buttons and a… timer? Except it was ticking up and appeared to have counted up about a week already. Looking at it… hurt. But she wasn’t moving. She wasn’t raising it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She was still in control.</span>
  </em>
  <span> That helped a bit. But she brought herself to focus on Sakura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What followed was a series of tests, the first button, a dark grey one, turned it into an odd suitcase. It didn’t appear to have a bottom. Kyoko looked at it with some interest but quickly told her to change it back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The black button made everything </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Even the timer stopped. The suddenly greyed out world was impossibly quiet. She quickly panicked and grabbed on to Sakura, which freaked her out. At least until she looked around and seemed to realize what had happened. After looking at her with… consideration? Sakura told her to press the button again… she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that herself, it made her feel like an idiot. But she did so, shutting off the stop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That just left the third button. A light purple one. Just before she could press it, she could feel its function.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She already knew what this one could do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She immediately took her finger off it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as Sakura looked like she was about to argue, she shook her head and said. “M-my powers, um, I can tell what this one will do… I don’t want to do it again…” which seemed to make Sakura look like she realized something, before she just looked grim.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Actually firing the gun when Sakura asked took a minute as she couldn’t quite keep away the memories of the last time she had attempted to use it. At least until Sakura put a hand on her shoulder, which was just enough reassurance for her to fire it. Blasting a large hole in the empty dumpster she had been aiming at.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uuuuuhhhh” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked at Sakura, who seemed a little surprised. But then just seemed to shrug.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she found herself being dragged into a labyrinth, she realized Sakura was going to be throwing her in headfirst. Throwing her against creatures that spread despair and wreaked havoc. She looked at Sakura as she followed her in. She breathed in, and thought about how much Sakura had helped her. How much Sakura was believing in her to help in this fight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She was filled with determination. She </span>
  <b>would</b>
  <span> back up Sakura in this hunt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The labyrinth was rocky, and odd. Covered in strange structures, with what looked like the eiffel tower at the center. She was almost in awe at the eldritch, warped scenery. At least until the weird tiny hand dragons started attacking. She really wasn’t ready for that. But she started picking them off while staying close to Sakura. Who was protecting her from any that got close. They quickly began hurrying to the witch, carving their way through, and working together. As much as they could when Homura wasn’t very fast or accurate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually they got to the Eiffel tower replica, and an odd looking… eye? Appeared and started floating down towards them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The witch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She fired at it when she could while staying back. Sakura got as close and threw her spears when she couldn’t get into melee range. Then the eye started dodging and firing lasers from its iris. Not to mention more familiars started showing up. She began to panic as she wasn’t sure how this was going to go. Then she realized she had an option.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pressed the black button, and color drained from the world. Everything stopped. She walked over to Sakura, unfreezing her. Sakura seemed surprised for a moment, then got a grin on her face before grabbing her, making her squeak, and jumping to the closest point to the witch. Sakura fired out many spears before having her get in some shots. Then she re-pressed the button, causing the witch to quickly become shredded by attacks it wasn’t prepared for. The strange scenery quickly disappeared as the labyrinth fell apart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sakura grabbed the grief seed the witch had dropped, then threw it at her. Homura barely caught it, then looked at her in confusion. “You’ve been a while without a grief seed. But you will have to help me hunt some more got it!” Sakura snapped. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Homura quickly nodded, and followed Sakura to a hotel room. Sakura didn’t seem to react much to it until she pointed her at a bed and got in the other. As she got on her own, she wondered if she had made a friend?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She guessed she would find out.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Gaining Some Fucking Minions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Kyoko woke up, she almost attacked on instinct when she realized there was someone else in the room. Then she remembered what happened yesterday. How she had said she would teach this trainwreck of a rookie. A panicky, scared girl.</p><p>Yet she didn’t entirely blame the girl, she’d at least made a wish for herself. Even if it had backfired somewhat. It was hard to fully believe the girl, but she didn’t seem to know how to lie, and the time stop was pretty good evidence. Although… if the timer meant what she thought it did… Did Homura have a get out of jail free card? One that would <em> always </em> bring her back to… roughly march 16th? If so… that was terrifying. Even if Homura was so traumatized by the first, unintentional usage that she likely wouldn’t be using it for a while. If ever.</p><p>… she was honestly somewhat surprised the girls innate magic hadn’t been subconsciously rejected like her own. It made her wonder if she’d had an effect, but she shook her head and ignored that thought. It didn’t matter.</p><p>She would admit that time stop would be… advantageous. Especially if she trained the girl. <strike> There's no other reason she’d want the girl around. </strike> As well as the seeming pocket dimension that was likely in her briefcase having all sorts of advantages. With it she could potentially bring her entire stash of stuff with her everywhere. Depending on the size limit anyways.</p><p>Then the girl started waking up, and after a bit of shock at her surroundings she looked to her and seemed to calm down a bit. <strike> She ignored the small bit of her that was happy at having someone look at her and relax because of it. </strike> Homura said she didn’t really have school today, so Kyoko decided to test Homura’s powers for something that could be immensely helpful. Quickly bringing Homura near a Yakuza base she’d found out about, and using her time stop to steal their money. Homura didn’t appear very conflicted about it, even eyeing their munitions and asked if it would be better if the Yakuza didn’t have their weapons, Kyoko shrugged, and ended up watching as Homura threw guns into her weapons case form.</p><p>As they did that, a weird idea came to Kyoko. She snatched a watch off one of the more important looking members as they passed by, so quickly he couldn’t even react before being ejected back out of the stop. She then put it into the briefcase after checking its current time, and waited for Homura to be done.</p><p>A bit later, after buying breakfast with the stolen money. She asked for the watch back, and checked its time. The time that had just started up from where it had been.</p><p>… well shit. It puts things in <em> stasis </em>. </p><p>With something like that she could keep grief seeds and food fresh as long as she kept the girl around… It could even be potentially more efficient to have her around as she could stockpile as many grief seeds as she could kill, and she could gather as much food as possible and not have to worry about wasting it.</p><p>… dammit, it was almost impossibly hard to justify reasons to not take on the girl. Whatever, she’d think about it more later after hunting for witches.</p><p>Doing that was also easier. So much easier she spent most of the day with Homura, pushing themselves to hunt and kill as many as possible and bag their seeds. Whenever a witch got difficult Homura used her time stop, and the witch became a <em> lot </em> easier.</p><p>Eventually, they ended up hunting one to a house, and found one right after it had killed some girls parents.</p><p>Said girl immediately latching onto them as soon as they killed it.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>Since the girl was refusing to leave, and had nobody left. They took her out for food with some more of the stolen money, quickly learning her name was Yuma. A girl with magical girl potential. Both of them told her just how much of a mistake contracting was. Where even a well intentioned wish can backfire. Thankfully deterring the girl from any dumb ideas… hopefully.</p><p>At least until she realized that the girl really was unlikely to leave them. How annoying.</p><p>She sighed. Then looked at Homura. The girl who could allow her to steal massive amounts of cash…</p><p>It looked like she had some minions for now.</p><p>Fuck. </p><p>At least after that… it became easier. She was able to teach Homura, and fought witches often. Occasionally going on Yakuza raids in that city and others. After the weekend Homura had to go to school, but she still came over to Kazamino often. Kyoko occasionally also go's to Mitakihara, avoiding Mami of course, and hanging around Homura’s apartment. Usually stealing her food.</p><p>Although… the first time Homura had had to leave… she’d been scared. But she’d been better than when she’d got to Kazamino. She was almost worried about her, but she was a girl capable of stopping time. Even if she was in the same middle school as Mami. That gave her one hell of an advantage.</p><p>An advantage not even <em> she </em> could counter.</p><p>Neither of them really could.</p><p>Having to be emotional support for two others was hard, not like she could get rid of them. Homura had the trauma related to her magic, even if she was getting better at handling it, and still had several issues other than that. While Yuma had been abused. The cigarette burns on her forehead were very obvious indicators. Which was one of the few times she’d seen Homura angry. The fact that Yuma’s mother had done such things… seemed to have actually made the girl <em> pissed. </em> </p><p>At least things couldn’t get any more complicated- Homura came back from school, looking… shell-shocked? With tears falling down her face.</p><p>She didn’t even say it out loud goddammit!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Back to Fucking School(final divergence)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Homura was going to school again, and could feel a bit of panic trying to worm itself deeper. But she could deal with it now, Kyoko was her </span>
  <strike>
    <span>friend-</span>
  </strike>
  <span>mentor. Someone who actually thought she was useful, even if she didn’t express it much. Who comforted her when she needed it. Taught her about being a magical girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she would stay </span>
  <em>
    <span>calm</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She would learn, and make Kyoko proud. She’d been making sure to avoid the bullies, which was thankfully easier with her magic reinforcing her body and stamina. She even slowly got better at the schoolwork over a couple weeks. Although tomorrow she could finally go back to Kazamino with Kyoko again. She could get away from Mitakihara again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the day, she was honestly a little relaxed, she could leave, and not have to worry as much- </span>
  <em>
    <span>she felt something grab her shoulder</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She immediately lashed out in panic, Kyoko’s training with her kicking in, and felt her fist make something… crack? She looked, and saw she’d decked one of the bullies, knocking them a couple feet away. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Blood was pooling on the ground.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She looked at her hand. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Her blood covered hand</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The ringing in her ears grew louder and louder, she’d messed up, she had hurt someone. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh god, what had she done, nononononono-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Her panic overcame her, and she ran.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ran into her apartment, Kyoko quickly turned towards her, looking slightly confused and concerned, moving over before she could even process it, and putting her hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Slowly getting her to breathe with her. Calming her down. When the ringing was starting to fade, Kyoko dragged her to a sink, and forcefully washed her hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Homura watched as the red was slowly scrubbed off, then drained away under the stream of water. “What happened?” Kyoko asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt herself freeze, considering lying for a moment, then felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>horrible</span>
  </em>
  <span> for considering lying to the person helping her. “I… someone grabbed my shoulder when I was leaving school and I-I reacted on instinct and, um… I punched them in the face before I even thought about it. I didn’t even know I’d done it until… until I looked…” Kyoko finished, and brought her to the sofa, where Yuma sat down and cuddled into her side, while Kyoko began rubbing her back. “... I don’t even feel very bad about it… they’d bullied me before… but I never wanted to…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuma looked up at her, and cuddled further into her side, while Kyoko responded. “Look, I’ll be honest, I think that beating up people who are assholes is justified. Not gonna force you to do so, either of you. But I also won’t blame you alright?” Homura felt a fresh wave of tears flow from her eyes at that. They weren’t mad… They were alright with her…! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt so relaxed, with the two people she cared about... When she slowly started feeling drowsier and drowsier, she almost tried to fight it, without much success.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She fell asleep between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kyoko looked at the sleeping girl, Yuma moving just enough to hug her as well. She wanted to move away, yet at the same time… </span>
  <em>
    <span>it reminded her of Momo.</span>
  </em>
  <span> The two girls had no one, nobody but her. She had no idea what to do about this though, except maybe…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Homura’s phone rang, and Kyoko reached for it immediately. She had a feeling it was the school, and if it was… time to do some damage control for this mess. A voice came through as soon as she accepted. “Is this Homura Akemi?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She responded quickly. “Sorry, but she’s currently asleep, this is a friend of hers. What is this about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment, a sigh came through. “Something happened at her school today, could you make her come back tomorrow? This is important to talk about.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think that would be a great idea, apparently the girl she punched had bullied her before, so it might be a good idea for her to stay away for a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They talked back and forth for a while, but while it seemed they would be talking to her about it, they would send the homework digitally for a while they worked out what to do. As she put the phone down, she realized Yuma had fallen asleep as well. She sighed, then let herself lean back against the cushions, and let herself drift to sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Homura woke up, things got complicated. But she did everything she needed to, fighting witches and doing her schoolwork. She ended up having to talk to the principal, but after that she mostly ended up staying in Kazamino with Kyoko and Yuma. She was set to return to school after about a month, but hopefully she would be better about restraint by then. Kyoko might not judge her for it, but she didn't want to accidentally hurt someone who didn’t deserve it, and becoming a magical girl had made her too… jumpy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But before she could go back, the storm warning came in, and then school was canceled for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>while</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Then Kyubey informed them what had happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Walpurgisnacht had hit the city, and Mami had died, leaving the territory open. The way Kyoko began chomping through the food she had on hand though… Homura was concerned for Kyoko, putting a hand on her shoulder while Yuma took the hand Kyoko wasn’t using to eat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end though, they covered both Mitakihara and Kazamino while hunting, Yuma having to be left behind often for the hunts. Which backfired when she ended up contracting to help them because Kyubey went to her while they were out. Contracted to help them. Kyoko was angry, but at the same time… They still kept her around though. So Kyoko had to teach them both, training them so that they could help her. Homura felt guilty, but Kyoko always helped them. They learned, slowly becoming closer and fighting together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She would fight for these two, and anyone else who had been screwed over if she met them.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>sorry this took so long, setting up this early timeline so that I actually get the rough result I want from Homura is hard as hell, but hopefully me finally getting this chapter out will make it easier.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The End of Innocence (everything burns)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Homura and her two friend’s worked together, killing witches for months. They learned, getting better and becoming closer as partners. Fighting on and on for months on end together. Yuma kept them safe,  while Kyoko fought at the front. She covered them both, defending them from the back with her guns.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… It was nice, even if after everything her school hadn’t really gotten back to her, not that that was likely easy after the whole city was wrecked. They’d visited once or twice, but most of it was under reconstruction, Walpurgisnacht had not been kind. So she hadn’t learned that much besides magical girl skills because of that, but she wasn’t sure she cared. She had money, she had friends, she even had a purpose. The only downside was that it was still hard to use her magic sometimes, still hard to breathe when she had the gun in her hands. Her friends outweighed that though. She was free from obligations, and people trying to mess with them. Besides the occasional magical girl making an attempt on the territory that is.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she bought a cake. Sure it hadn’t been a year yet, but she wanted Kyoko to know just how much she appreciated her. Yuma too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she walked Home with a smile on her face, the house they’d got their hands on with a combination of the money she could access and yakuza money they’d stolen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she got there though, something felt off. She looked around, but nobody was there. She put down the cake, feeling out to try and find her friends. She didn’t think they had planned to leave for witch hunting or anything today…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She felt around with her magic, and followed the feeling of magic in the back alley. Turning the corner to-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Yuma was on the ground, blood pooling around her. Kyoko was fighting another magical girl, who’s orange sword was covered in blood.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She screamed, both Kyoko and the silver haired turning to her as she dropped to the green haired girl's side, looking for any sign of life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The girl’s eyes were dark, she put her head to the girls chest to listen for a heartbeat as tears ran down her face. She didn’t notice the blood getting in her hair, or care really. All she cared about was the heartbeat she didn’t hear. Ringing began drowning everything else out as she grabbed the girl and held her close, sobbing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually though, the ringing lessened, and the noises of the clashes around her reminded her of what was happening.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>That girl had killed Yuma.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She immediately got up, transforming and pulling an assault rifle out of her briefcase. Screaming as she unloaded it at the girl. Barely able to focus on aiming as she fired. Didn’t even notice over her screaming the light haze before the girl disappeared. She quickly turned in different directions, looking around for her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then she heard a squelch and shattering sound from behind her, and turned around to Kyoko with a sword through her chest. Costume disappearing in a moment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She froze, watching as the girl pulled the sword out. Limp body falling to the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She screamed, transforming the briefcase into a gun and stopping time. Not bothering to try to think about why the girl hadn’t attacked her yet. Not even noticing as her outfit shifted to white. Getting as close as possible and firing from several angles. Then walking away before unstopping time, not feeling a hint of satisfaction as she fell to her knees, dropping the gun, and hearing the explosion behind her. Then hearing what she was pretty sure was the girl's legs falling to the floor, her outfit going back to normal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sobbed on the ground, slowly moving over to Kyoko’s body and hugging it close. She cried, wondering what to do. Everything had been undone in an instant. Her little slice of family and happiness disintegrated without warning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She shivered as an idea crossed her mind, chills running down her spine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There really wasn’t a better option though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She carefully put down Kyoko’s body, then shakily got up and retrieved her weapon. Inching her finger towards the purple button-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“What are you doing?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She shivered at the “voice”, remembering it, and knowing who it was. What it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... What do you think I’m doing?” She solemnly replied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>It tilted its head. </span><em><span>“Given your recent course of action, I would assume you want revenge, even if you didn’t have another target.”</span></em><span> She stood quietly, not bothering to correct it. She just wanted to undo this. </span><em><span>“Did you know, that girl was mind controlled?”</span></em> <b>That </b><span>got her attention, she focused on him. Prompting him to continue. </span><em><span>“She found out the secret of magical girls, and hit a depressive slump. Then a girl known as Kagari Hinata mind controlled her to assassinate other magical girls while Suzune thought it was her own idea.”</span></em></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura froze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Did that mean… the girl she’d just killed was innocent…?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She wanted to puke, especially when Kyubey said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“If you don’t hurry, she’ll get away!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It almost threw her off enough to forget a certain thing he’d said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The s-secret of magical girls?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stilled, then continued. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“That you’ll all become witches of course, it’s how Kagari made Suzune justify it in her own head.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… Homura wanted to puke. She could guess when it would happen, her soul gem darkening presumably.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This white rat had set up every magical girl to become a witch, hell, she had a feeling it had set her up to take down Hinata so the girl would witch out. She didn’t know why, wasn’t even sure she wanted to know.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What she did know though, was that she would never be free like this. Wouldn’t be able to live in peace. Wouldn’t be able to live a normal life. Wouldn’t be able to live an </span>
  <em>
    <span>abnormal</span>
  </em>
  <span> life even. So many people in this world made things worse for everyone else. Mostly for stupid, selfish, </span>
  <em>
    <span>ugly</span>
  </em>
  <span> reasons.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She pressed the purple button on her gun as her determination solidified. She didn’t quite know what she was going to do yet. Didn’t have any plan other than “Remove Kagari Hinata” for the next timeline.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She didn’t care though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even as she shivered at the feeling of the barrel against her skull, she breathed like Kyoko had taught her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then she fired, and the timer reset.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. A Spark (of burning change)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>special thanks to Potato and Anti for beta'ing this mess</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Homura woke up, holding back tears as she stared upwards.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She immediately got up, and quickly began walking. Quickly checking out of the hospital, then heading out. Kyubey hadn’t told them anything till it was far too late, but at the same time she only knew one person who knew where Kagari Hinata might be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So she looked for him. It took her awhile, but she remembered there was another magical girl in the territory. One who Kyoko had recommended in Mitakihara. Mami Tomoe, the magical girl who died. Eventually, she was pretty sure she found the girl. A blonde with drill shaped hair appearing out of a labyrinth. She immediately walked over, causing the girl to gain a cautious look as she noticed her. Not quite pulling out a weapon, but evidently ready if Homura tried something. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Take me to Kyubey.” She nearly demanded. Honestly a little surprised she didn’t stutter. Not that she would allow herself to. Not now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The girl opened her mouth, but before she could say anything the telepathic voice of Kyubey resounded in her head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You were looking for me?”</span>
  </em>
  <span> She turned, the white rat thing watching her. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I don’t have any memory of contracting you, so where did you come from?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stared at him for a moment, trying to think of what to say. Then slowly, and purposely responded, holding back the stutter she was so used to. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… need you to tell me where Kagari Hinata is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyubey turned his head slightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I am unsure who exactly you are referring to? Why are you looking for this girl?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura glared, but she couldn’t tell if it was lying, and Tomoe was looking at her suspiciously. If he just didn’t know where Kagari was, or didn’t care to tell her, she would just find Kagari herself. Between the few times she met it, no warnings about Suzune, or the- the time she contracted and gained </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> power… She didn’t trust it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nevermind.” She quickly walked off, ignoring the eyes on her back as she did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She considered going to Kyoko, and telling her everything. Searching for the monster together. But no matter how hard she thought about it, she didn’t think it was a good idea. Yuma had been optimistic, but Kyoko had not been. Almost always being on guard. Which meant that expecting the girl to believe her without solid proof was… unlikely. While she didn’t even have halfway decent proof, even the cake she’d bought for them all had been left behind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She forcefully shook away the thought. Walking and looking for… something. What should she actually do? She didn’t even know where Hinata might be besides possibly Kazamino, and that was probably wrong. She hadn’t heard of any magical girls like Suzune, and she was probably not a new magical girl if she could fight Kyoko and k- </span>
  <em>
    <span>kill</span>
  </em>
  <span> Yuma. Which meant she traveled, and who knew where she was originally mind controlled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She winced, then sighed. Plan B she supposed. She went to the apartment she had been set up at for a few weeks before… everything, and set up her laptop. Then began searching for the name herself, not that she was met with much success.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few hours of futile searching later, and she was about to throw in the towel, and try to go to sleep in this… rather unfamiliar house.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then suddenly, a voice from behind her spoke. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you need help there?” she swiveled, looking on in terror at the other magical girl in the room. A tall, blonde haired girl in a white dress watching her with her green eyes. Expression oddly serene and stoic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W-who are you?” She stuttered out in a panic, transforming and pulling out her pistol. She felt her heart beating faster and faster as she did so, the beating almost overcoming everything. She shook it away though, desperately trying to focus on the girl in front of her instead of the fact that she had been snuck up on, and the </span>
  <em>
    <span>weapon</span>
  </em>
  <span> in her hands. She tried to hold back her shivers as she looked at the girl, trying to project more confidence then she actually had. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Was this girl, Kagari Hinata, who had come to kill her for looking into her?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I apologize for surprising you, but I’m Oriko Mikuni, and I’m here to help you. You're looking for Kagari Hinata right?” Homura flinched at the confirmation, but also… was this girl really going to help?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She raised an eyebrow, not quite putting down her gun but… it would be nice to have someone help her if they were willing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you know where she is?” Mikuni nodded, both of them transforming out of their costumes as they began walking. Mikuni’s hair shifted from its straight style to a long ponytail off the side of the girl's head. Homura cautiously followed her out the door- wait. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That was my house!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mikuni laughed softly. “You left the door unlocked.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura looked away, cheeks burning as she realized her mistake. She really wasn’t used to her apartment anymore. Not that she had ever really gotten the chance to use it between catholic school and the hospital. Let alone Walpurgisnacht.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still, as they walked through the city, she kept her eyes narrowed at Mikuni. It was odd, but at least it wasn’t too bad. Mikuni talked to her as they went, kindly inquiring about her in ways unrelated to being magical girls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was… nice. She was still cautious though. This girl had likely been spying on her, or something similar to know who she was hunting. Not to mention she had just appeared in her house, without any warning. Now, at least part of it was likely her being distracted, but she was still… tentative about this girl. She might be leading her to a trap, or might just have no sense of personal boundaries. Not to mention… the girl could be manipulative. Evil like so many others, and planning to do something to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mikuni didn’t though, even as she eventually slowed down for a moment, and asked another question. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I haven’t quite caught your name.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura winced, perfectly fine with this girl not knowing her name, but she responded. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Homura Akemi.” Oriko nodded in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A nice name.” Homura looked at her, confused. It… wasn’t really a nice name. Just an odd one. Even Kyoko had mostly called her nicknames, or used her first name because that’s just what she did. She was starting to get the feeling this girl was… really polite.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She almost wanted to just trust it, and see if the girl could be her ally.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The memory of Kyoko and Yuma’s fates slammed back to the forefront, blood obscuring her vision. Covering her hands and arms. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She winced, shaking herself even as tears fell from her eyes. Mikuni silently walked ahead of her, not saying a word as she silently cried. Eventually, they stopped right outside the train station, giving Homura enough time to take off her glasses and rub the tears out of her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then they went to another city, Mikuni carefully walking, and seemingly looking for the right direction. While Homura looked down at her ring, and pulled out one of the grief seeds from their-... what was </span>
  <em>
    <span>supposed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be the stockpile for her, Kyoko, and Yuma, and purified her soul gem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually, Mikuni spoke again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I apologize, but when we get there I will not be able to fight, is that alright?” Homura tensed, but nodded. Watching the girl closely again, waiting for the trick, if this was one. After several more minutes of walking, Mikuni pointed across the street to a rooftop. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She is up there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They both transformed, and leapt up there. Which gave her a perfect view of a magical girl in purple looking out over the city, and at the silver haired girl that had killed her last time fighting another magical girl.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura didn’t hesitate, even as the girl turned, surprised. Homura pressed the button, and stopped time. Firing an energy blast so close that it had already burned a hole in the girl's stomach by the time it stopped, color leaking out of it. She then fired another on the other side. Walking back to roughly where she had been standing, and watching the two collide, the girl exploding. Homura grimaced, looking away, while Mikuni looked shocked, and somewhat terrified. But after Homura took a look down, and noticed that the fight had stopped, she still followed her when she began heading back. Not saying anything as she headed home, and even following her inside her apartment. Sitting down on one of the benches. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... May I ask why you did that?” Mikuni asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She was mind controlling another magical girl to kill others, and I… couldn’t let that happen anymore.” Mikuni slowly nodded, not saying a word as Homura pulled up her to do list, and realized she had a problem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was still going to be transferring in, which meant she needed to know as much as possible before that day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… When she could barely remember what she had even been studying at about that time when Walpurgisnacht completely destroyed her school.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She tried anyways, pulling up things she could barely remember, and looking for the right subjects. Trying to relearn. This went on for a few minutes before Mikuni asked whether she would like some assistance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura didn’t bother hiding how relieved she was at that, Mikuni quickly helping her through the hardest parts, and eventually staying because it got too late. Homura didn’t quite trust the girl, but she hadn’t done anything bad yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the end, they ended up meeting often, Mikuni practically making herself an ally, and then getting an odd partner that followed her everywhere in Kure. Who often went on witch hunts with Homura, albeit, they tried to avoid Mitakihara as a hunting ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After school had started, Homura did… better than she had the first time at least. But it didn’t take her very long to realize she almost forgot something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Kure and Mikuni ended up following her, she didn’t say anything about it, but was comforted a bit by their presence as she… technically trespassed on Kyoko’s territory. She sighed for a moment, but ran to the specific house, arriving in the nick of time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The witch fell to Kirika’s claws, and she picked up Yuma.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So now they were a group of four, albeit Yuma wasn’t a magical girl, and if Homura could help it, she would never be. Even as things got complicated, like with Sasa Yuki trying to control Mikuni, and they found out just what a menace the girl had been in the surrounding areas, controlling witches and feeding humans to them. Or the note, depicting the awful things Mikuni’s uncle had done to his own family member. Driving Oriko’s father to suicide.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura clenched her fists. Was the world just… naturally unjust? Would evil people always abuse the system, betraying those close to them?</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <b>
    <em>Why?</em>
  </b>
  <b></b>
    <em><br/>
</em>
  
  <b>
    <em><br/>
</em>
  </b>
  <span>Money? Power? Control? The reasons seemed countless at this point…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… Maybe she could help?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had already been stealing a bit from the Yakuza, and with her time magic, plus possibly the help of her new… allies? Friends?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She felt a slight burning feeling within her spark, as she wondered what she could do.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Girl Who Would Bend Everything to Her Will</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks to Sigravig for betaing</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Oriko hadn’t been sure what she had been expecting when she wished to know her purpose. The girl she had seen though, definitely hadn’t been what she expected. Not after that vision.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She saw herself at a shorter girl's side, planning with her. The shorter girls long black hair in twin braids and red rimmed glasses made her stand out, not even mentioning the odd tuxedo the girl was wearing, black as night, and evidently ready.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There were others there as well, their forms obscured and blurry. Some of them disappearing and reappearing. Slowly, more and more appeared. Overlapping images covering them all as the room they were in peeled away. The girl turning to her, and burning purple fire staring into her soul from behind the glasses.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then she woke up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had quickly run off to go find the girl, the black haired girl who symbolized her purpose,  fortunately finding her after only a few hours. Feeling the odd swirling fiery magic of what was probably another magical girl. She had waited outside the door to the apartment, marked with the name Homura Akemi, thinking the magical girl would probably come out and talk to her. She got somewhat concerned after a few minutes, and went in through the unlocked door when the girl didn’t come out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She found the girl looking intently at a screen displaying  someone named Kagari Hinata. Looking into it so thoroughly that she didn’t even notice as Oriko stood behind her. It had been… somewhat concerning. Was her purpose to keep this girl alive from others given her evident… lack of awareness?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t that hard to act tall and confident, using her powers to help the girl find whoever Hinata was. Not saying anything as the girl cried, and finally steeling herself to protect the distraught, and slightly panicking girl.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Kagari Hinata’s upper half was atomized in front of her and she realized she had miscalculated what her purpose was for being there. Especially when she got the explanation why.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It became far more obvious as she continued working with the girl, meeting with her often. Finding small things to fix even as they went to school and found a new ally in Kirika, who was oddly loyal to her. As well as a child named Yuma who they saved from a witch, and a… rather terrible home life, with a horrific parent. Things changed. She helped them and was in turn helped by the other girls when she learned about her uncle's actions. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They still helped her, even as she had no idea what to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then she saw that fire in Homura’s eyes again. She’d only seen it on occasion: just before the girl destroyed Hinata. When they'd seen the cigarette burns on Yuma’s forehead. When they'd found out what Sasa Yuki had been doing. And now, after finding out about her uncle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is there something you would like to say, Homura?” They had probably progressed far enough for first names. Even if they hadn’t, she didn’t think the girl would say anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... I… I just w-want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>burn</span>
  </em>
  <span> this sort of stuff. Keep people from being hurt… Keep injustice like this from happening…” Homura responded, looking away slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>… She laughed softly, causing Homura to look back at her in confusion. All of them turned to stare at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, but I think I finally understand something important.” Homura just looked more confused, so Oriko tried to give her the least engineered, softest smile she could. “I will help you Homura. We </span>
  <em>
    <span>will </span>
  </em>
  <span>help others. Together.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked over to Kirika, ready to ask whether she still wanted to be a part of the group. She was almost shocked by the frozen expression on Kirika's face, before it split into a massive smirk. “Wherever you go, I go, Oriko!” Of course, what else could she have expected.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yuma opened her mouth, but Homura wrapped her arms around her. “Yuma… please don’t contract for this. W- we won’t abandon you. We are doing this for </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and for others like you. Girls like you… Alright?" The girl pouted, but didn’t disagree. Not yet at least.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Things after that became more complicated. Even as they tried to think of things to do to help, all of their plans were either small scale, or long term. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Very</span>
  </em>
  <span> long term. They certainly started enacting some of them. Using her visions to help direct the best use of their abilities to help people, stopped people from hurting others through blackmail, by force, or simply by taking what they needed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Working together, they saved others. Brought a little bit of Hope into the world. They had hit the Yakuza, important businessmen, even some politicians. This brought about some small scale improvements, especially as Kirika and Homura learned to fight witches together, but nothing long term was being accomplished. This could all start again the second they took their fingers off the scale.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The thought that they never would bring about any lasting change was… almost haunting. They could see the future and manipulate time. Incredibly powerful abilities. Abilities far beyond a normal human's capability.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And yet she couldn’t think of anything they could do that would make a difference. Even their actions now were a stopgap, plugging up holes in a sinking ship. At best they were opening up power vacuums, at worst. The only thing they'd felt they'd really accomplished was keeping the victims they could find safe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So when Homura predicted that Walpurgisnacht would hit Mitakihara before even one of Oriko's own visions could, she wanted to fight The Queen of Witches. Wanted to do something she knew would save many lives. But even she could admit that they didn’t have a great team for that. Homura was effective against other magical girls, but her weapon wasn’t very effective against anything larger. Too much magic per shot to be effective in a long fight, and not enough firepower. Kirika was purely melee, and what little info they had implied that that would be… ineffective. Even with the time slow. Oriko herself could barely fight without a grief seed on hand. Her only way to deal damage against something like that far too draining.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They weren’t ready for such a foe. Had used too many of their grief seeds helping others. They weren't yet skilled enough to fight something that powerful without shooting each other in the foot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So when Homura decided to leave the city and said it was to save others, Oriko was certain part of that was just fear. Not that she could blame the girl. Things were… nice how they were now. Even if she had to leave the other magical girls of the city, including that classmate of hers, to fight it instead. Not to mention that they could do more good in the future this way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had to remind herself of that several times as she looked out at the soon to be destroyed city.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Given the rumors though, Mami Tomoe was a very powerful magical girl, and she even had a trainee with her at the moment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If they couldn’t handle it on their own, there wasn’t much point in them getting in the way. The only one among them even approximating the status of veteran being the long, black haired time manipulator. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So they prepared to leave, even as the sky became stormy. The world faded into shades of grey as they left the city and a strange mote of multicolored light appeared in the sky above Mitakihara.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Leaving her, Kirika, Homura, and Yuma outside the range. As buildings began being ripped from their foundations, multi-colored witchlike fire became evident across the sky as they began burning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>These were her friends, and Oriko would survive with them. Even if it hurt her to abandon the city, she would do so, and help them accomplish their shared goals.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t risk herself or them dying to something beyond their capacity to handle.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Cruelty of Reality (why does it keep hurting)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks to Potato for being a beta for this chapter</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Homura walked with Oriko and Kirika as they entered the school. She wanted to be out fighting, working, and using her magic to lessen the suffering of the world. But Oriko had been strict on them still going to school. Homura would admit she had plenty of money after the Yakuza raids and… well, she hadn’t exactly been poor before. So it was pretty easy for them all to get into Kirika’s old school. She couldn’t even blame Oriko when it came down to it, it was a good idea. They needed to learn as much as possible as well. They couldn’t do this if they made mistakes, and couldn’t afford to not know something that could inevitably help them, or be important.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not to mention she and Oriko would likely be noticed, and she insisted that if they were going to survive together, they had to learn. Not to mention that attendance would help keep some suspicion off of them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Info from Mitakihara told them that at least Walpurgisnacht had been dealt with. Even if there was a lot of collateral damage. They had even confirmed with Kyubey that Walpurgisnacht had been killed albeit at the sacrifice of the magical girls there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their schools would be out of commission for a while, if they came back at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oriko just seemed her normal, serene self. Albeit Homura could see the slight sadness in the girls eyes at times when they left, and afterwards. Occasionally looking like she was missing something slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kirika on the other hand seemed happier than ever. Even if she wasn’t in the same class as Oriko.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yuma though…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oriko approached her as she quickly finished her schoolwork after school. “I’ve been looking into the rest of Yuma’s family.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Homura tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Why?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oriko serenely sat next to her. “While I would love to care for Yuma, we aren’t equipped to take care of her. Even after we bought this apartment, and with Kirika hanging out so often, we’re not prepared to take care of a child. Especially while working together to protect those unable to defend themselves, we’re already so busy that… It’s better to give her to people who would care for her. Who knows how to care for her.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Homura wanted to say something. Wanted to cry. Wanted to sob that Yuma was her family, and that she could protect her.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But this course they were charting wasn’t the safest. They needed to be careful, and not waste their time and magic. Not to mention that the longer she was around them, the more likely it was something bad might happen.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She still remembered Yuma’s corpse, in a puddle of </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>red.</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She took a shaky breath, trying to steel herself. “I-I’m going to guess they are… nice people?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The resulting nod was obviously coming, but it still hurt. She didn’t want to let go.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She nodded herself, tears finally managing to overwhelm her fragile self control. Sobbing for the friend who would have to leave. The sudden feeling of the taller girl's arms being wrapped around her snapping her back to reality long enough to throw herself against Oriko, holding her close.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura took off her glasses, wiping at her eyes to remove the tears just from remembering the memory. This was silly. Yuma wasn’t even dead this time. She was with nice people, being cared for, far from magical girl matters. She was safe. Oriko had assured her of that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She still remembered saying goodbye.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura shook herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were others she had to save from this rotten, broken world. And she couldn’t let something like this stop her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Avoiding Kyoko’s territory in Kazimino wasn’t the easiest, but at least Kyoko hadn’t decided to test the new borders beyond one small battle with Kirika so far. Homura wasn’t sure she could handle fighting her mentor and… honestly, Kyoko was out for herself. Homura knew that, couldn’t blame her for that, but knew it meant she wouldn’t care about her goals.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sighed, but knew they couldn’t afford to spend more time just to give Kyoko grief seeds. They almost had too much important work to do already.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But it was still obvious that they weren’t making meaningful change. They needed a new plan, and for that…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She walked over to Oriko, who was sipping some tea with Kirika sitting next to her. Who was chatting happily over various things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sat down, pouring herself a cup of tea, and waiting for Kirika to slow down a little. Sipping from her cup as she waited.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura patiently and slightly nervously waited for an opportunity to speak, not wanting to interrupt the clearly happy Kirika as she was obviously having fun, and after all the fighting they had her do they were nigh indebted to her. Not to mention the rare sight of Oriko smiling as Kirika rapidly spoke.  It would have been cruel to disrupt such an obviously joyous moment with such a serious topic.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the tea ran out, so too did her excuses, When Kirika ran off to brew a new pot, Homura took a deep breath, and sprang her question.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You, uh, helped your father with politics right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oriko got a sad look on her face, but nodded. “Yes, I wanted to help him as much as I could after my Mom died.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“C-could you teach me everything you know about how, um, politics and the world works? If we are going to possibly do more than what we have, uh, so far, then we need a better plan then the small raids on Yakuza and giving t-tips to the authorities on abuse and those other things... Let alone the small bit of b-blackmail we’ve been doing. If I know more, I, uh, m- might be able to come up with ideas to help people… Maybe. At least I would h-hopefully be able to understand any plans you come up with...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oriko seemed to think about it, Kirika coming back after a moment with more tea, and both her and Oriko taking sips as the seer thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That is a good point, I am not the greatest expert myself. Too young to understand a lot of what was going on around me. But I know where to start, and I should be able to teach you a little in the meantime as I look into getting us a more knowledgeable source.” Oriko still seemed as serene as ever, so at least this wasn’t too much to ask… hopefully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She bowed slightly for a moment, grateful. “Thank you for all your help” Oriko waved after a moment though, like she was disregarding it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It isn’t a problem Homura, we’re working together for a shared goal, and will continue to do so into the future.” Homura smiled slightly. Maybe… Maybe this could be her new place to relax. New friends to relax and fight with. She would protect them, and make the world the better place. In their own way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Oriko continued. “There is something I would like to talk to you about as well…” Homura looked up, nodding, even as she could visibly see Oriko choosing her words carefully. “There were certain facets of the contract we weren’t told by Kyubey when we made it.” Homura tensed immediately. She remembered her first moments as a magical girl. The labyrinth, familiars, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the barrel of her own gun pressed against the side of her head, her own hand pulling the trigger-</span>
  </em>
  <span> Homura shivered, but breathed slowly, fighting against the panic clawing at her mind. She wasn’t back there. She was ok. She would make herself ok if necessary. Bringing herself back to focus, and finding her friends looking at her, slightly worried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m sorry. I’m fine. Please continue Oriko…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oriko nodded after a moment. “Well… With my powers I can see them into the future, and see things that can happen. Notably though… I saw things that we weren’t told. Firstly… When we contract, our soul gems are created. The name is literal. They contain our souls.” Homura’s mind froze, the little white cat bunny thing had done...what? Without even telling them, he’d ripped out their souls? The souls they apparently, definitely had? She balled her fists, anger rising at the untold consequence. At the way she had been told so little, and not even told that her soul had been ripped out even afterwards. Burning rage flaring before she got a slight handle on it. “This means we are immortal to a degree. As long as we know attacks do not actually affect us, we can heal through anything with enough magic. Which leads me to the next secret.” Homura braced herself, if this was the second secret, it was probably worse. “When our soul gems turn completely black, either through despair, or running out of magic, they shatter, and we become witches.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura leaned back in her chair. Unable to think past the slight static filling her ears. She had barely thought about it since she went back, knowledge buried under the </span>
  <em>
    <span>blood, blood. So much blood. Her friend's corpses on the ground, white haired victim on the ground dead-</span>
  </em>
  <span> She shook herself, trying to think straight. Trying to think at all beyond the </span>
  <em>
    <span>squelch and shattering sound as Kyoko died-</span>
  </em>
  <span> She wrapped her arms around herself, but she could barely feel it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t die without becoming an unholy abomination, and her body was a gem. Her mind remembering the twisted forms she’d already been fighting for several months. She thought about how most of the witches she had fought had likely been magical girls like her at some point, and there was likely nothing she could do about it. She would talk with Oriko later. See if there were any loopholes or exceptions or anything, at least when the static was gone. When she could think of questions to ask. She wanted to find out as much as she could about that as well, to see if there was a way to keep the two of them safe from that fate. Keep Kyoko safe. Keep other innocent girls who were screwed over by this system safe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She didn’t know how to change the system though, even if she </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated</span>
  </em>
  <span> the white rat, it wasn’t like she could just kill him without making her and her friends run out of grief seeds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What would they do though!?-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Homura flinched, arms around her snapping her out of it, then another pair a moment later wrapping around them both.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Right, she wasn’t alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They could work together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And maybe one day, they would find a solution.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>